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Citation
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Leong RLF, Lau TY, Dicom AR, Teo TB, Ong JL, Chee MWL. Sleep 2023; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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STUDY OBJECTIVES: To determine how mid-afternoon naps of differing durations benefit memory encoding, vigilance, speed-of-processing (SOP), mood, and sleepiness; to evaluate if these benefits extend past 3 h post-awakening and to examine how sleep macrostructure during naps modulate these benefits.
METHODS: Following short habitual sleep, 32 young adults underwent 4 experimental conditions in randomized order: wake; naps of 10min, 30min and 60min duration verified with polysomnography. A 10-min test battery was delivered at a pre-nap baseline, and at 5min, 30min, 60min and 240min post nap. Participants encoded pictures 90min post-nap and were tested for recognition 210min later.
RESULTS: Naps ranging from 10-60mins increased positive mood and alleviated subjective sleepiness up to 240min post-nap. Compared to wake, only naps of 30min improved memory encoding. Improvements for vigilance were moderate, and benefits for SOP were not observed. Sleep inertia was observed for the 30min to 60min naps but was resolved within 30mins after waking. We found no significant associations between sleep macrostructure and memory benefits.
CONCLUSIONS: With short habitual sleep, naps ranging from 10-60mins had clear and lasting benefits for positive mood and subjective sleepiness / alertness. Cognitive improvements were moderate, with only the 30min nap showing benefits for memory encoding. While there is no clear 'winning' nap duration, a 30min nap appears to have the best trade-off between practicability and benefit.
Language: en |